Raymond St. Leger

Raymond J. St. Leger (born 1957, in London, England) is an American mycologist, entomologist, molecular biologist and biotechnologist who currently holds the rank of Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Entomology (https://entomology.umd.edu/) at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Raymond St. Leger
Born (1957-04-01) April 1, 1957
London, England
Nationality England
Alma materExeter University
University of Bath
Scientific career
FieldsEntomologyMycology Biotechnology
InstitutionsCornell University
University of Maryland
Doctoral advisorProfessors Keith Charnley and Richard Cooper

Research and career

According to Google Scholar, St. Leger has published more than 150 scientific papers and book chapters on fungal pathogens of plants, animals and insects, and on the reactions of hosts to infection. St. Leger has principally used entomopathogenic fungus (fungi that act as parasites of insects),[1] as models for understanding how pathogens in general respond to stress,[2] changing environments,[3] initiate host invasion,[4][5] colonize tissues,[6] and counter host immune responses.[7] These investigations have also addressed the mechanisms by which new pathogens emerge with different host ranges [8][9][10] and genetic variation between individuals in host defenses.[11] Other interests include fungal and insect behavior and evolution,[12] molecular biology and genomics of fungi,[13] and mutualistic associations between microbes and plants that can be exploited to benefit agriculture.[14][15]

St. Leger is also known for developing transgenic technologies, including altering insect pathogens so that they carry genes encoding spider and scorpion toxins.[16][17][18][19] A field trial in Burkina Faso has shown that these engineered pathogens have the potential to control insect borne diseases such as malaria.[20] St. Leger has tested an array of "alternative engineering strategies to be consistent with the highly exploratory approach required for optimizing a pathogens biocontrol potential".[21] For example, engineering a mosquito pathogenic fungus to carry a gene for a human anti-malarial antibody so that the fungus targets the malarial parasite in the mosquito reduces the possibility of mosquitoes evolving resistance to the fungus.[22]

St. Leger has been a consultant on biotechnology to many private and public concerns, including the NIH, the USDA, the NSF, the US State Department and the Organization of American States. St. Leger has also served on many national and international policy-making committees including the Bill Gates funded National Academies Committee to study technologies to benefit Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia (2009).[23]

St. Leger is an advocate of online open education and since 2013 has co-taught with Dr. Tammatha O’Brien (https://tammatha.weebly.com/) a MOOC on the Coursera platform called Genes and the Human Condition [24] that has had more than 200,000 active learners.

Education

St. Leger received his Bachelor of Science in biology from Exeter University, England in 1978, a Master of Science in entomology in 1980 from Birkbeck College, London University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1985 from the University of Bath, England.

Awards and honors

St. Leger has received several awards for his research, he was elected a fellow of the AAAS (2012), the American Academy of Microbiology (2013), the Royal Entomological Society of London (FRES) (2011), the Entomological Society of America [25] (2019) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). He received the American Society for Microbiology Promega Biotechnology Research Award (2017) and was the inaugural recipient of the Tai Fung-Lan Award for International Cooperation from The Mycological Society of China (2016). St. Leger received an Honorary Doctorate from Exeter University in 2018 [26] and the Newcomb Cleveland Prize for the most impactful paper published in Science (journal) in 2019.[27] St. Leger gave the Founders lecture at the 2009 Society of Invertebrate Pathology Meeting.

References
  1. Lovett, B; St. Leger, R.J (2017). Heitman, Joseph; Howlett, Barbara J; Crous, Pedro W; Stukenbrock, Eva H; James, Timothy Y; Gow, Neil A. R (eds.). "The Insect Pathogens". The Fungal Kingdom. 5 (2017). doi:10.1128/9781555819583. ISBN 9781683670827. PMID 28256192.
  2. Fang, W; St. Leger, R.J (2010). "RNA binding proteins mediate the ability of a fungus to adapt to the cold". Environmental Microbiology. 12 (2010): 810–820. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.02127.x. PMID 20050869.
  3. Wang, S; O’Brien, T; Pava-Ripoll, M; St. Leger, R.J (2011). "Local adaptation of an introduced transgenic insect fungal pathogen due to new beneficial mutations". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108 (2011): 20449–20454. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10820449W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1113824108. PMC 3251136. PMID 22143757.
  4. Wang, C; St. Leger, R.J (2007). "Metarhizium anisopliae perilipin homolog MPL1 regulates lipid metabolism, appressorial turgor pressure and virulence". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 282 (2007): 21110–21115. doi:10.1074/jbc.M609592200. PMID 17526497.
  5. Guo, N; Zhang, Q; Chen, X; Zhang, X; Xu, C; St. Leger, R.J; Fang, W (2017). "Alternative transcription start site selection in Mr-OPY2 controls lifestyle transitions in the fungus Metarhizium robertsii". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 1565. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8.1565G. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01756-1. PMC 5691130. PMID 29146899.
  6. Wang, C; Hu, G.; St. Leger, R.J (2005). "Differential gene expression by Metarhizium anisopliae growing in root exudate and host (Manduca sexta) cuticle or hemolymph reveals mechanisms of physiological adaptation". Fungal Genetics and Biology. 42 (2005): 704–718. doi:10.1016/j.fgb.2005.04.006. PMID 15914043.
  7. Wang, C; St. Leger, R.J (2006). "A collagenous protective coat enables Metarhizium anisopliae to evade insect immune responses". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (2006): 2647–6652. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.6647W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0601951103. PMC 1458935. PMID 16614065.
  8. Wang, S; Fang, W; Wang, C; St. Leger, R.J (2011). "Insertion of an esterase gene into a specific locust pathogen (Metarhizium acridum) enables it to infect caterpillars". PLOS Pathogens. 7 (2011): e1002097. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002097. PMC 3121873. PMID 21731492.
  9. Hu, X; Zheng, P; Shang, Y; Su, Y; Zhang, X; Zhan, X; St. Leger, R.J.; Wang, C (2014). "Trajectory and genomic determinants of fungal-pathogen speciation and host adaptation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (2014): 16796–16801. Bibcode:2014PNAS..11116796H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1412662111. PMC 4250126. PMID 25368161.
  10. Zhang, Q; Chen, X; Quo, N; Meng, Y; St. Leger, R.J; Fang, Weiguo (2019). "Horizontal gene transfer allowed the emergence of broad host range entomopathogens". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (2019): 7982–7989. doi:10.1073/pnas.1816430116. PMC 6475382. PMID 30948646.
  11. Wang, J.B.; Lu, H.L.; St. Leger, R.J (2017). "The genetic basis for variation in resistance to infection in the Drosophila melanogaster genetic reference panel". PLOS Pathogens. 13 (2017): e1006260. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1006260. PMC 5352145. PMID 28257468.
  12. Hu, G.; St. Leger, R.J (2004). "A phylogenomic approach to reconstructing the diversification of serine proteases in fungi". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 17 (2004): 1204–1214. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2004.00786.x. PMID 15525405.
  13. Gao, Q; Ying, S.H; Zhang, Y; Xiao, G; Shang, Y; Duan, Z; Hu, X; Xue-Qin, X; Zhou, G; Peng, G; Luo, Z; Huang, W; Wang, B; Fang, W; Wang, S; Zhong, Y; Ma, L; St. Leger, R.J.; Zhao, G.; Pei, Y; Feng, M.G.; Xia, Y; Wang, C (2011). "Genome Sequencing and Comparative Transcriptomics of the Model Entomopathogenic Fungi Metarhizium anisopliae and M. acridum". PLOS Genetics. 7 (2011): e1001264. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001264. PMC 3017113. PMID 21253567.
  14. Liao, X; O'Brien, T; Fang, W; St. Leger, R.J (2014). "The plant beneficial effects of Metarhizium species correlate with their association with roots". Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 98 (2014): 7089–7096. doi:10.1007/s00253-014-5788-2. PMC 4153607. PMID 21350178.
  15. Liao, X; Lovett, B; Fang, W; St. Leger, R.J. (2017). "Metarhizium robertsii produces indole-3-acetic acid, which promotes root growth in Arabidopsis and enhances virulence to insects". Microbiology. 163 (2017): 980–991. doi:10.1099/mic.0.000494. PMID 28708056.
  16. Fang, W; Lu, H; King, G.F; St. Leger, R.J (2015). "Construction of a hypervirulent and specific mycoinsecticide for locust control". Scientific Reports. 4 (2014): 7345. doi:10.1038/srep07345. PMC 4256560. PMID 25475694.
  17. Gallagher, James (31 May 2019). "GM fungus rapidly kills 99% of malaria mosquitoes, study suggests". BBC News. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  18. Saey, Tina. "A fungus weaponized with a spider toxin can kill malaria mosquitoes". Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  19. Bonner, Walt (2019-06-10). "Genetically-altered fungus murders mosquitoes with spider venom". foxnews.com. Fox News. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  20. Lovett, B; Bilgo, E; Millogo, S.A; Ouattarra, A.K; Sare, I; Gnambani, E.J; Dabire, R.K; Diabate, A; St.Leger, R.J. (2019). "Transgenic Metarhizium rapidly kills mosquitoes in a malaria-endemic region of Burkina Faso". Science. 364 (2019): 894–897. Bibcode:2019Sci...364..894L. doi:10.1126/science.aaw8737. PMC 4153607. PMID 21350178.
  21. Lovett, B; Bilgo, E; Diabate, A; St. Leger, R.J. (2019). "A review of progress toward field application of transgenic mosquitocidal entomopathogenic fungi". Pest Management Science. 75 (9): 2316–2324. doi:10.1002/ps.5385. PMID 20050869.
  22. Fang, W; Vega-Rodriguez, J; Ghosh, A.K; Jacobs-Lorena, M; Khang, A; St. Leger, R.J. (2011). "Development of transgenic fungi that kill human malaria parasites in mosquitoes". Science. 331 (2011): 1074–1077. Bibcode:2011Sci...331.1074F. doi:10.1126/science.1199115. PMC 4153607. PMID 21350178.
  23. National Research Council (2009). "Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia". The National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/12455. ISBN 978-0-309-12494-2.
  24. St. Leger, R.J; O'Brien, T. "Genes and the Human Condition (from behavior to Biotechnology)". Coursera. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  25. ESA. "Dr. Raymond J. St. Leger, ESA fellow". Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  26. Exeter University. "Professor Raymond J. St. Leger (DSc)". Exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  27. Cutlip, Kimbra (2020-01-24). "UMD-led Study Named Most Impactful Paper Published in the Journal Science in 2019". umdrightnow.umd.edu. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
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